So Many Summer Projects...

Well, it has been a long summer here in California, and in one week, I shall be returning to New York with plenty of high hopes, few new skills and a decent California tan (I feel like a complete failure of a West-coaster when I go back East pale). This summer, to say the very least, has been a terribly eventful summer for my family and friends. I've been on weekend-trip after weekend-trip, and several sizable occurrences have added to the general chaos that crept slowly and surely over my holiday.

I journeyed for the first time to Oregon, to visit my dear cousin Shereé in Ashland, where she is going to school; I also visited my best friend, Amina, at school in Arcata, CA, where my love of the mossy and the dreary became truly apparent; M. Benjamin and I spent one day in Yosemite for a picnic and walk; I took two day trips to San Francisco, once to meet up with my almost-almost-almost Uncle Aldo, who was visiting California from his home in Assisi in Italy with his wife, and once to see the travelling collection from the Museé d'Orsay that was on exhibit at the de Young museum. In between all of these were several trips to M. Benjamin's family home in Meadow Valley, both before and after the event that seemed to define the summer for both of us: The breaking of the engagement between his sister, Emily, and her fiancé, Gabe.

This event had a profound effect on his family (although a profoundly good one, as no one was fond of this man) and on mine as well, and kept everyone involved on the edges of their seats all summer as the dirty details of the relationship were revealed little by little. My poor sweet Peach was persuaded to act as go-between for his family and Gabe, and was nearly run ragged by Gabe's immaturity in dealing with the affair and his unreasonable demands of Emily and her family. But, now, he is removed from all of our lives and Emily got two wonderful kitties, a cute little house in Quincy, and a trip to Jamaica with her best friend out of the deal, so we are all thankful for her change of heart.

Also, in conjunction with my twentieth birthday in July, a have penned a list of twenty things to do in my twentieth year, and have done my best to begin chalking them off (for information about my inspiration for this list, see Keri Smith's book, Living Out Loud, as well as her blog, wish jar). First was: learn to knit. So, I procured some yarn and needles and connected with my lovely friend, Meredith, and she taught me some stitches and so far, I've made two scarves, one knitted and one purled. Here's the purled one:
My next project is called the "antler scarf," and is a cabled scarf!

I also made shoes this summer. Well, more that I decorated shoes. In Francesca Lia Block's beloved Dangerous Angels books, the character Witch Baby has a pair of "rubber bug sneakers," so I took it upon myself to make a pair, and here's the result:




While I was taking all these pictures this morning, the family cat, Tucker came to visit me from his bower in the garden:

So now, off to continue the summer-long project of cleaning out my room and organizing what's for California and what's for New York. I'm staring to feel like I lead a double life.... But before I go, I want to congratulate Mary Catherine Garrison on her new home in upstate NY! Can I say how envious I am of this beautiful new nest? It makes me excited for the day that my love and I may have a true nest of our own--and may it be even half as beautiful as this one!